American Bred Episode 4: Winning Hand
by American Companion
Summary: When Katie lands the Doctor and herself in the middle of a forest, things start to look dull. Then a familiar figure shows up, who's soon followed by the expected attacking force of silver men. However, cliches are made to be broken.
1. Chapter 1

The Doctor walked down the corridor to Kathryn's room, albeit a tad reluctantly. He had finally made up his mind on a topic that had been bothering him ever since she had pulled that stunt with the TARDIS while they were in 1774. Kathryn had flown her with no prior instruction, no supervision, and sent the TARDIS through a world of pain as a result, not to mention risking blowing a hole in spacetime. After much debate, he had finally reached his decision. It was probably going to be one of his worst, but he had made up his mind.

Now to tell her.

The Doctor knocked gently on her door. Receiving no answer, he cautiously opened it, expecting one of Kathryn's non-lethal defense mechanisms to come flying at him. Surprisingly, nothing did.

"Kathryn?" he called, pushing the door open the rest of the way. Her room looked the same as it usually did: fireplace blazing, candles lit, floor clean, pictures hanging, random weapons on the wall, bookshelf with novels, histories, science, sudoku, and language books filling it, and the bed made. The only odd thing was that the large pile of cushions and blankets by the fireplace was devoid of any living thing.

Strains of music reached the Doctor's ears, and he turned to find the source of the sound. One of the several doors in Kathryn's bedroom walls was open, and a very green smell came from it. Never one to pass up a mystery, the Doctor approached the door. The music grew louder and turned into off-key singing. He recognized the song, but not the voice.

**Oooooooh**

**Lydia oh Lydia, say have you met Lydia,**

**Lydia, the Tattooed Lady.**

**She has eyes that folks adore so,**

**And a torso even more so.**

**Lydia oh Lydia, that encyclopidia,**

**Oh Lydia the Queen of Tattoo.**

**On her back is the Battle of Waterloo.**

**Beside it the wreck of the Hesperus, too.**

**And proudly above waves the Red, White, and Blue,**

**You can learn a lot from Lydia.**

**La la la, la la la. La la la, la la la.**

The Doctor looked into the door to see a long corridor, with plants from across the galaxies growing next to each other. As he stepped in, Kathryn spun into view from an adjoining lane. She was wearing a yellow sun dress and her deep ginger hair was barely held back in a clip, both of which was unusual for her, as she believed dresses were bad luck and her hair was always in a bun. The crowning glory though, was the fact she was spinning around with a blue watering can in her right hand, and she was covered in writing, not all in one language or from earth. There seemed to be as many types of writing on her as there were plants around her, and from the same places too.

Kathryn stopped suddenly and snapped her head around to look at the Doctor. Her smile was slightly insane and her eyes were open a little too wide.

"Hello Doctor! How'd you get in?" She made a tsking sound. "Oh, I'll bet I forgot to load the pea-shooter. I'm always doing that."

"You have a pea-shooter set to fire at someone coming into your room?" The Doctor asked, his voice rising.

"Of course not! That's just what I call that little mauve thing by the door. Looks like a vine, but it shoots pellets made of salt that look a lot like dried peas at everyone except for the person who planted it. Only problem is that you have to keep giving it salt. Seriously, it eats salt like nobodies business." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, which promptly escaped. She swung the watering can in her hand, looking exactly like a five-year old helping her mother in the garden. Just a very tall five-year old with a nasty habit of uncontrollably sucking life-energy out of any person she touched. "What can I help you with?"

The Doctor cleared his throat and stepped towards her. "Well-"

"Stop! Don't move so much as a millimeter."

The Doctor froze, eyes darting about, trying to see what was wrong. All he saw were the plants. He looked back at Kathryn, who had set down the watering can and was slowly walking towards the Doctor. She still looked terrified.

"Okay, now I need you to back up very, very slowly," she said. "It senses movement, and it will probably be able to fit your entire head in its mouth."

"You have animals-!"

"Shh!" Kathryn admonished him. "Floyd is one of the most amazing things in here, but you have to be very respectful of him." Kathryn studied the Doctor, then looked at something next to him. "Scratch the first plan. When I say now, I need you to get out of the way as fast as you can. He's horrible at multitasking and can only focus on one thing at a time, but he's the fastest sucker this side of Antarus."

She walked closer towards him, keeping her eyes fixed on whatever was next to him. Slowly, she reached out her hand.

"Now!"

The Doctor jumped back as Kathryn darted her hand forward. He stumbled, then righted himself. When he looked at Kathryn again, she was in front of a large plant that looked like a closed bud on a long thick stem. The plant was as tall as she was, and had green splotches all over its red skin. Kathryn was standing in front of it, her hand on her hips.

"Now Floyd, I've told you before, do not eat the visitors. I said this when you first sprouted. I feed you often enough that you shouldn't have to eat anyone." The bud opened slightly, then closed. Her forehead wrinkled in a frown. "Don't give me that! You were getting ready to eat him, I saw you." The bud drooped, and Kathryn looked at it regretfully. "Oh, now don't be that way. I didn't mean to yell, but you have to stop acting this way. You've been trying to eat Hilda and Bartholomew for the past two days. If you don't stop, I'll put you in a pot. Now I mean it this time."

Kathryn turned to the Doctor, apologetic. "Sorry. Floyd has a huge appetite. It's hard to keep up with."

"What is that thing?"

"He isn't a thing. He's a member of the Refti strain, commonly called a Plaw. Kind of like a Venus fly-trap on major steroids, with the speed of a striking snake and the brains of a 4 year old. They'll eat literally anything. Well, besides coffee. I drink it all the time, but they hate the stuff. Must be a British plant."

The Doctor stared at Kathryn, wondering if he should pursue the comment. He decided against it and asked, "What is written all over you?"

"Instructions on how to take care of my plants and what they are. Different sections are on different appendages. Poisonous plants are on my right leg, antidotes are on the left, my left arm is edibles, and my right arm is full of healing things. My skirt is mostly the flowery stuff that you just look at, and my face and neck have the miscellaneous plants, like Floyd here." She turned around sharply, her back to the Doctor. Her tone was scolding. "Don't make me come down there Roderick! I heard what you were saying!"

"Kathryn," the Doctor said gently, now seriously worried about her mental health.

Kathryn whirled back around to face the Doctor. She now appeared strained. "Can we please go somewhere?"

"Pardon?"

"You've had TARDIS drifting in the nebula for the past week and a half. I am slowly going crazy having this level of inactivity. Please, I don't care where we go. It could even be earth. I don't care if we go the reign of Bloody Mary in England and act like Protestants. I have to go someplace."

"Ah, actually, I was coming to talk to you about that. Or what you did to TARDIS."

Kathryn's face fell. "Oh. Okay. You're still angry about that."

"Well, not really angry, just…."

"Upset. I understand." Kathryn nodded and gently set down the watering can. She stood up straight, her expression sober, hands folded in front of her. "I'll just…go get my things together."

"Kathryn-"

She held up a hand to stop him. "No, it's all right. I completely understand, Doctor. I made a stupid, risky move flying TARDIS, and as such I don't have the right to stay."

"Kathryn-"

"No, don't try to fluff it up. I thought something like this would happen." She swallowed, appearing as though she was trying hard not to cry.

"Kathryn!"

She finally looked at him. The Doctor seemed caught between humor and disbelief. "I'm not throwing you out. I'm going to start teaching you how to fly her."

Kathryn looked behind her and turned back to the Doctor. "Are you talking to someone else? You aren't talking to Ruby or Floyd or something."

The Doctor's smile grew a bit. "No, just you."

"You…are going to teach me…how to fly TARDIS?"

"Unless you'd rather not…"

She pointed a finger at him, the words written all over her making her look surprisingly stern. "Don't you dare back out now." Suspicion danced across Kathryn's face. "Why are you offering to teach me?"

"Two reasons. When you first agreed to join me, you only came after I promised I would teach you. The second and biggest answer is that if you try to do something as stupid as flying the TARDIS again, I don't want to hear her screaming when she lands."

Kathryn had the decency to look abashed, though only for a moment. She dashed past the Doctor, pausing at the door going into her room. "Give me fifteen minutes to get all this marker off me, and I'll join you in the console room." She disappeared from the Doctor's sight, though he could still hear her.

"Yes! Woohoo! This is great!"

The Doctor was glad Kathryn was so happy about it, but wondered briefly if human fathers felt the same way when teaching their daughters how to drive.

* * *

><p>*Constructive critisisim welcome, praise happily accepted, flames not wanted*<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

Katie walked into the console room exactly fifteen minutes later. In truth, she had been ready in eight minutes and twelve seconds, but she didn't wish to seem like she had wanted this ever since she learned TARDIS went through time _and_ space. Well, she had, but that wasn't the point.

There wasn't a single speck of marker ink on her skin, and her hair was up in its usual bun, her common outfit of a solid color t-shirt, jeans, and boots on, and her brown messenger style pouch hanging at her side. The only thing that revealed her nerves and excitement to the world was the way her dark green eyes were glowing.

The Doctor was circling the console as he usually did, one hand in a trouser pocket, occasionally fiddling with something, his expression partially blank, as of one who had been everywhere and done everything, and was now wondering what to repeat. He broke into a grin when he saw Katie. She smirked back, the closest she really ever came to a smile.

"Preparing her for what's coming?"

"Nah, she's gone through so much that it was more of a shock than anything."

"Yeah, she's a strong woman. So, what's step one?"

"A rule that I never want you to forget."

Katie closed her eyes and shook her head lightly, making a light clicking noise. "Another rule? How many have you got?"

"Don't know. I haven't made them all yet. I don't want you flying her on your own. Only when I'm here. Maybe in a hundred years or so you can fly her solo. Until then, you have to be supervised."

"No lone flights. Gotcha."

The Doctor gave Katie a look that said he didn't really believe she had accepted that instruction, but he didn't push the issue. Instead, he turned to the spot where a pilot would input the coordinates of where they wanted to land.

"Pick a number between one and a hundred," he said.

"18.6."

"Another number, same range."

"27."

"One more number."

"Let's go with the answer to everything, and say 42."

The Doctor looked at her quizzically. "The answer to everything?"

"Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy…42...never mind."

The Doctor lifted his eyebrows momentarily, then put that number in as well. "You have just-"

"Randomly chosen the spatial coordinates for where we are about to go, though not the temporal ones."

Giving Katie a look, the Doctor said, "Your ability to know exactly what I'm going to say is truly starting to worry me."

Katie's smirk turned mischievous. "Good. Although, in that instance, I just referred back to previous experience. And the TARDIS Manuel that you threw into a star."

"I told you, the book is wrong. Now come here, right now I'm just going to have you turn the wheel, so to speak."

Katie forced herself to only walk to the spot the Doctor meant and grasped the wheel looking device. She gave the Doctor a wink, though it wasn't entirely comforting. He picked up one of the two hammers he kept nearby and took up a spot next to her, seemingly resigned to his fate.

"I only want you to focus on getting to the place. We can worry about time later."

Katie laughed lightly. "We never worry about time, Doctor. Time doesn't mean anything to us."

The Doctor shook his head, humor lacing his words. "I'm sure there was something very profound in what you just said, but we can discuss it later." Grasping a lever, he flipped it up. TARDIS made her signature noise as Katie quivered with excitement. This wasn't like the last time she flew TARDIS; then she had been doing almost nothing but guessing and was happy not to have blown a hole in spacetime. Now though, she had someone who had experience helping her out, and a new adventure coming up. What could be better?

* * *

><p><em>Vworp, vworp, vworp. Thoum. Krrik.<em>

The door to TARDIS opened and Katie stumbled out. She turned to the door and glared as it slammed behind her.

"As if you parked perfectly _your_ second time!"

Her protests went unheard as TARDIS disappeared, then reappeared a few feet to its left. The Doctor walked out, then stood appraising Katie.

"Well, besides the tree you materialized around, that wasn't too bad."

Katie stuck her tongue out at him, then turned around and looked about her. They had landed in a forest that resembled the vast areas of redwood trees on the Pacific West coast. "I'm shocked you didn't land the same way I did."

"Oh, I've just had practice. For the record, I never materialized around a tree. I always landed perfectly. Well, almost. Sometimes I have to turn her."

"You probably had classes on parking properly. Me, you just punched in a few numbers and said go."

"Hang on, you chose it!"

"Not complaining. The place smells like moist earth, there's mist everywhere, I can hear birds, and I think it's near sunrise." Katie started walking forward. "Let's go this way."

"Why that way," the Doctor asked even as he fell into step beside her. She flashed him one of her half grins.

"Because."

"Marvelous reason."

* * *

><p>An hour later, the reason wasn't so marvelous. The planet quickly heated, but the mist hung about, making the forest a rather humid place. So while Katie spent half her time trying to breathe in the heavy air, and the other half trying to figure out how trees so similar to a conifer were thriving in a place like that, the Doctor practically bounced along in his suit, looking like the heat didn't bother him in the least. Katie gave him a look.<p>

"Would you please stop doing that?"

"What?"

"Acting so…so…_you_. How are you not melting in this heat?"

"Time Lord physiology. We can stand up to higher temperatures than most. And lower. And we have a respiratory bypass system."

"Full of yourself, aren't you?"

He grinned at her. "Just being truthful."

Katie gave him another mock glare. She turned her head forward again, then pointed. "Building."

"Well spotted." The Doctor's brow furrowed as the building in the clearing ahead was replaced by forest, then came back. "Odd. It seems to have some kind of camouflage system set up."

Without another word spoken, Katie and the Doctor slowly, quietly, approached the clearing. The camouflage system turned out to be no more than a large holographic dome, projecting a picture of more trees. At least, that's what Katie could gather before the Doctor roughly pulled her down behind a log.

"What was that for," she hissed.

"Shh!" The Doctor peaked over the log, then dropped back down. "They're Twirks."

Katie cautiously looked over the log. A large ship that reminded Katie of a Romulan bird of prey from Star Trek was -for lack of a better term- parked next to a large warehouse. Human sized green tri-peds were carrying crates out of the warehouse and placing them inside the ship, then returning for more. Katie crouched back behind the log.

"What's a Twirk," she asked.

"Poachers mostly. They'll shoot anything they see with a specially created dart that injects just enough tranquilizer to knock it out, then the prey is completely undamaged, along with the hide. Brilliant device actually. It reads the DNA sequence-"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Katie waved her hand at him, motioning him to skip the science lesson. "Later. How do we stop them? Even if the crates are full of already tanned skins, we can stop them from doing the same thing again, right?"

"Wrong. Twirks are the one of the most vicious, cruel, deceitful things in the universe. If you aren't one of them, they'll use you to turn a profit. The second they saw us, we'd be shot."

"Sounds like humans."

"Twirks are even worse than a human." The Doctor glanced at Katie. "No offense."

"None taken. You really should know by now I don't consider myself human Doctor. American yes, human no. When I turned Jahra again, anything human left my body."

Even as Katie said it, she knew the Doctor didn't really believe her. She had returned to her clone form physically, yes, but the Doctor still saw her as a human.

Closing her eyes, Katie moved her vision into 'energy view'. While looking at things that way, she could see the different energy forms, and could see around things she ordinarily couldn't, like the log. Her perception would go out of whack, the coloring of people and objects would resemble a two-year-old's coloring book, but otherwise her vision was unimpaired.

The Twirks were still moving crates. Guards were posted about, and it looked as though they were almost finished.

Two of the Twirks dropped a box. The top burst open and a small animal just barely resembling a squirrel tumbled out. It started to run, but one of the Twirks shot at it. It was vaporized in a millisecond.

Katie opened her eyes and turned to the Doctor again. "There has to be something!"

The Doctor looked like he was about to protest again, when an odd smell filled the air. It was a lot like singed titanium.

Katie and the Doctor looked over the top of the log again. Off to their left, the Twirks right, was a shivering pillar of air. The Twirks were making gravely sounds that seemed worried, and they all started to pile onto their ship.

From the same area as the air came the faint sound of a motor. Then the air pillar collapsed, and from the same spot a motorcycle came shooting out from it. The rider was clad in black leather, the jacket covered in patches and pins, their helmet completely covering their face, the darkened visor preventing Katie from seeing who it was. Katie thought she heard a slight sound of recognition come from the Doctor, but she ignored it.

The motorcycle slid to a controlled halt in front of the ship, which was now starting to fold its landing legs in. The rider pulled a thin, silver canister out of the leather jacket they wore. Hitting something on the top, they threw it at the ship. It struck the hull just as it started to lift off. The ship rose about two feet, then exploded.

Katie watched all this with fascination, and growing admiration. As the faint scent of nitroglycerine drifted towards the log, Katie jumped over it, determined to meet this mysterious someone. The Doctor did nothing to stop her. He seemed glued to the spot.

Katie walked boldly up to the person on the motorcycle, who didn't seem to notice her approach. "Love the smell of nitro in the morning."

The figure turned around to look at Katie, who continued talking.

"I'm guessing you do to, but that must not have been then only reason you decided to pitch that canister at the Twirk ship. Nice pitch by the way."

The person pushed a button on the side of the helmet, causing the visor to disappear. Katie could see tanned skin around brown eyes, with reddish brown strands of hair here and there. The figure looked female, and the voice, which had a very faint English accent, proved that to be true.

"You don't look like you're from Genora."

"Where's that?"

The woman laughed. "Now I know you aren't. That's here! This whole forest planet is Genora."

"You're right, I'm not from here. Judging from the fact you just came out of air, I don't think you are either. What do you use in those things?"

"Bit o' this, bit o' that. Mostly nitro. Call it Nitro-11."

Katie shrugged, as if unimpressed. "Meh, not very exciting. Easy to remember though."

"Used to be Nitro-9, but its gone through two separate upgrades since then. Fits in a thinner container and packs more punch now." The woman cocked her head. "You don't sound like anyone I've met. Where are you from, and how did you get here?"

"I'm from behind that log over there," Katie said, pointing over her shoulder with her thumb. "I got here by walking. I decided I should check you out after the light show." Katie stuck out her hand. "I'm Katie."

The woman pulled off her helmet to reveal short hair and a square face. Tucking her helmet under her arm, she held out her hand.

"Call me Ace."

* * *

><p>*Constructive critisisim welcome, praise happily accepted, flames not wanted*<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

"Ace? Not a bad moniker. Short, easy to remember. You must be a whiz at poker."

Ace smiled lightly. "Not really." Ace watched Katie as she walked around the motorcycle, examining it, commenting as she did.

"Reminds me of one of the light bikes from the original TRON, right down to the dark blue color. Well, the ones in the movie were a weird glowy blue, but basically they're the same bike. Except for this thing." Katie crouched down in front of the handlebars and looked curiously at the yellow colored thing between them. It was clunky and aerodynamic at the same time, with several buttons and a small screen.

"What do you do, watch movies while you're chasing down bad guys?"

Ace grinned. "I don't think you'd believe me if I told you."

Katie looked up at her and raised an eyebrow. "You just jumped from a pillar of air and blew up a rather large ship with a cylinder of nitroglycerine. I think I can handle whatever you may have to say."

"It's a time hopper. I patrol a section of time on this planet, and this helps me to do it."

"Only time? Hope you don't mind me saying so, but you look a little human to be here."

"So do you."

Katie acknowledged the comment with a tilt of her head as Ace continued. "It also goes through space, though only to two separate locations, here and Earth. I have a set time for Earth, so I don't go jumping through time over there."

"So you act as a vigilante for this planet while Earth struggles on?"

"It has enough people watching it. This planet has no one."

Katie gave Ace a look, though her words didn't match her expression. "I'm not sure how you can stand it, having only two planets to go too. I'd probably lose it after the first few visits. More fun going everywhere and every when."

"Are you from the time agency?"

"The who?"

"Obviously not. How do you get around then?"

"In a big blue box."

Something in Ace's eyes flickered, then she laughed. "You remind me of a friend I once had. You would have liked him."

"Oh yeah!" Katie stood up, her expression one of sudden recollection. "I should probably introduce you to the guy that brought me here. Actually, I technically drove him here, but he's teaching me how to fly the ship, so he brought me here. It's complicated." Katie peered past Ace's shoulder and shouted, "Yo, Doc! Stop hanging with the beetles and meet the lady who solved the problem you couldn't!" Katie looked back to Ace. "The Doctor has this thing against force. I personally don't see what's wrong with it when used correctly, but…" Katie's voice trailed off as she noticed Ace wasn't looking at her.

Ace had gotten off her bike and was now standing to face the Doctor. The Doctor was in his usual pose, leaning slightly to one side, hands in his trouser pockets. He studied Ace as she looked at him, as though unsure about something. Katie walked to where she could see both of their faces.

"Ace, this is my friend the Doctor. Doctor, this is Ace."

The Doctor smiled, but it was a sad smile. "Hello Dorothy. Last time I saw you, we were fighting robotic ants in Egypt."

"You know each other?" Katie asked.

"I don't know," Ace said, still watching the Doctor, addressing her next words to him. "Did you undergo that process you told me off, ah, regeneration?"

"Three times since we last met. You still look the same. And still using explosives, I thought I told you to stop that."

"Yeah, well, drug runners don't always respond to your methods, Professor."

"Drug runners? I thought they were Twirks."

"They are, but the market for drugs is bigger right now, so they turned to that instead. I've been tracking them down through time, over the course of about 70 linear years. "

"Okay, time out!"

Katie stepped in between Ace and the Doctor, her hands crossed in a 'T' shape. "Back up about thirty seconds." Pointing between the two of them, Katie tried to clarify. "I just met her, but you know her. She knows you, but its been awhile. You called her Dorothy, so that must be her name. She called you Professor, either making that a name you used to have but changed, or it's a nickname. You did something called regeneration that makes you look different, so she didn't recognize you. The poacher race isn't really a poacher race because they're running drugs. She blows things up, and you're okay with that, but when I want to send something up in a cloud of smoke, you flip out." Katie glanced between Ace and the Doctor. "Did I get everything?"

The Doctor scratched his chin and nodded. "Yeah, pretty much."

"Okay. Good. I just wanted to be sure." Stepping backwards, Katie made a sweeping gesture. "Please, continue. I've learned more about this loon in the past 30 seconds then I have in two months."

Ace dipped her head and smiled. "Yeah, the Professor is like that."

"How'd you meet?"

"Fast food joint on an ice world."

Katie made a snirking sound. "That's even better than mine."

Ace tilted her head. "How did you meet?"

"I took a shot at him and he flew me to a hospital."

Ace smiled in response. The Doctor had a look on his face that spoke of serious déjà vu, though whether it was from seeing an old friend or because he had had companions meet before, Katie didn't know. She didn't really care though; she was getting a perverse pleasure from seeing him so out of his element. The Doctor wasn't much of a touchy-feely person.

"Tell me, is the TARDIS still shaped like a phone box?"

"Oh yah! Teaching me to fly her now, just started today. Was she always blue?"

"Yes. Most of the time. It was pink once."

"PINK?"

The Doctor stepped forward, a kind of horror in his eyes that most people get when their baby pictures are shown to their friends. "I don't think Kathryn needs to hear that one."

"Quiet Doctor, I want to hear this." Turning her attention back to Ace, Katie said, "Please, continue. I didn't know she could be any other color."

"It wasn't optional. We had landed on a world where it was illegal to be sad, and the local police felt the blue color was too depressing, so they painted it pink."

"Her."

Ace looked quizzically at Katie. "Her?"

"TARDIS is a her, not an it."

Ace's smile had a very slight condescending look to it this time. "Of course. It's been about twenty years since I saw the Professor last, so it must have slipped my mind. So, he's been teaching you to fly her."

"Only because I almost blew a hole in space time trying it on my own. I got where I was going, but I ended up in a tree."

"Really. He hadn't gotten around to teaching me that part yet. I was still working on getting into Prydon."

"Is that a planet?"

Ace looked at the Doctor. "You haven't told her about Prydon?"

The Doctor swallowed, as though the name brought back hard memories. "Prydon Academy doesn't exist anymore, Ace. It's gone."

"Gone? How-" Ace was interrupted by a ringing sound. She pulled a cell phone-like device off her belt and answered it.

"Ace." There was a brief pause, then Ace closed the phone. She grinned at the Doctor.

"We'll have to chat later, Professor. Seems like you brought the classics with you today. I just got a call, this planet, about 20 years back. Silver men seem to be causing problems. Care to take a look?"

The Doctor smiled. "Depends. Do you have gold on you?"

In response, Ace pulled out an automatic. Firing it at a tree, the bullet burst into a glittery shower that reminded Katie of pixie dust. She looked back at Ace, who was putting the gun back in its holster.

"Answer the question?"

The Doctor grinned. "Good. Give me the coordinates and I'll see you there."

"Nothing doing. Hop on.," Ace said as she mounted her cycle. "You too, Kate," she said almost as an afterthought.

Katie glared at Ace, but neither she nor the Doctor noticed. Katie's first opinion of Ace was rapidly dropping. Still, she went with the Doctor, and the Doctor was on the motorcycle. Katie got on as well.

Ace punched a few buttons on the time hopper, and a pillar of air similar to the one before opened up. Ace revved the engine and put her helmet back on, clicking down the visor.

"Just like old times!" she shouted, driving through the pillar.

* * *

><p>*Constructive critisisim welcome, praise happily accepted, flames not wanted*<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

The trip through the time window Ace had opened up was a lot longer than Katie had imagined it, but somehow much shorter too. It was like the moments leading up to and during a car crash; it takes very few seconds to actually occur, but the mind takes in so much information during that short span of time that when you remember it, it seems impossible that it took so little time.

First was the bike itself. It didn't move the way a motorcycle usually did, but seemed to glide, almost as though it was hovering. When they broke through the air pillar, Katie could sense it collapsing behind them, like a wave of water flowing in behind them. There was absolutely so sound, not even that of a heartbeat, or a breath. The smell of singed titanium had grown stronger, and had been joined with the scent of apples. Through it all, Katie had the sensation that wind was rushing past them, but from behind the motorcycle.

They broke through the other side of the vortex tunnel they had been traveling through. Ace pulled to another controlled skid. She looked over her shoulder at Katie and the Doctor, almost certainly smirking at them under her visor. "Packs a punch, huh?"

That was a serious understatement. Katie felt like she had been punched several times in the stomach, and as though her lungs had suddenly been flattened. She could tell the Doctor was also working on re-inflating his own lungs.

After she was able to breathe again, Katie looked about her. The area was very similar to the one they left, just minus the building. Ace pointed straight ahead.

"Right, the person I got the call from should be about 5 minutes that way."

"I thought you said your hopper goes through space as well," Katie said. Ace didn't turn around as the Doctor answered,

"To planets. Specific places on the planet are harder to manage. It's like, the difference between a city and a house in that city."

_I prefer TARDIS._ Kaite thought. Ace answered the unspoken comment, almost as though she could sense it.

"May not be the TARDIS, but it gets me where I need to be. The ride is a lot smoother too."

"TARDIS doesn't suffocate you after you land," Katie acidly said.

Ace ignored the comment, revved the engine, and drove forward.

Ace's initial estimate was correct. Five minutes later, the bike flowed over a hill. Ace stopped at the top. She tore off her helmet, brow furrowed in curiosity and horror.

It was like cliché twist in a movie. Three heroes riding over the hill to save the town, only to find that it was

"Gone. The whole thing is just…gone," Ace said, stunned.

Katie had to agree. She had expected a town of some kind, houses, people, maybe a few farms. But there was absolutely nothing. Not even wreckage. It was all just flat dirt, except for a single furrow, possibly 3 meters wide, stretching out towards the horizon. Every so often it would disappear, and then show up again, as though whoever had made it had come up for air now and again.

"That's certainly not Cybermen's work," the Doctor said, motioning Katie to get off the bike. She did, and he followed, both of them leaving Ace were she was.

"Probably a bad time, but what's a Cyberman?" Katie asked. "You and Ace both seemed to expect it."

"Well," the Doctor said, the word coming out almost as a half groan, "Cybermen are what you come to expect when someone gives you a report that silver men are attacking a large area of people."

"It wasn't very large," Ace said, joining them, her previous composure having returned. "At this point in time, 200 people, max."

"No offense, but you still didn't answer the question," Katie said.

"Cybermen are a race of human brains devoid of emotion that are placed inside metal bodies," Ace answered her. "Their one goal is to make everyone else a Cyberman. How long have you been traveling with the Professor?"

"I've been traveling with the _Doctor_ for about two months, and the Cybermen haven't shown yet. How long have you been waiting for him to come back?"

Sensing a fight, the Doctor spoke up. "Ace, what interest might another species have in this area?"

"None that I know of," Ace said, giving Katie a look. Katie returned it stonily as Ace continued. "They were a farming community. Rain like the Amazon, but the soil has something in it that almost forces things to grow twice as large as they would anywhere else."

The Doctor crouched down and picked up a handful of black soil, studying it. Katie half-expected him to eat it, but instead he addressed a question to her.

"Kathryn, can you see anything?"

"An area of dirt that's gray with a weird tunnel/trench thing stretching out and away." She saw what he was getting at. "Something's been pulled from the soil. But what?"

The Doctor seemed a bit surprised. "Well, actually, I hadn't seen that, but it's a good observation. I was really asking if there's anything left to see."

Katie gave him a half-lidded look. Ace spoke up, confused. "Left to see? There's nothing here, Professor."

"Only as far as we can tell," the Doctor responded, looking at Katie expectantly. She wore the same expression.

"Fly-boy, let me clarify something for ya." Her voice put on a slight Southern twang as she spoke. "Now, I don't expect ya'll to know this, bein' one sighted folks, but energy ain't all it's cracked up tae be! It's constantly shiften and being replaced by other kinds. Heat? This whole planet's coated in it like an apple double-dipped in caramel. Light? Sun provides enough to fill in any cracks and erase whatever clues there may be. Sound? That stuff flies off and fades faster than a duck eats a June Beetle. Mental energy? Sometimes it stays, but for a non-telepath, it ain't worth a grain of salt." Her normal voice returned. "In essence, nothing useful. Go fish and ask something else."

"How far do you think that tunnel goes?"

The Doctor and Katie turned to look at Ace. "Love to find out," the Doctor said with a grin.

* * *

><p>Half an hour later, they were still finding out. Whatever had made the trenchtunnel had created it in an extremely erratic fashion. Sometimes it followed the surface for half a mile, and then dropped into a pit. On occasion it went down for a good distance, then suddenly rose up, or stopped all together, forcing the three bike riders to turn around. Once in a while the wall of dirt was obviously a cave in, caused by non-existent shoring. In these cases, Ace would look at it like she wanted to blow it up, but didn't for fear of starting another dirt fall.

It was dark when the trio decided to stop for the night. They still hadn't found the mysterious creators of the ditch, or what they were after, but it would have to wait until morning. Ace started to pull out dry rations when Katie smugly produced three Meals Ready to Eat, or MRE's. She passed them around.

"Okay, so this sort of chicken pasta doesn't taste as good as fresh, but hey, better than biscuit."

"What would sweets have to do with anything?" the Doctor inquired. Ace and Katie both gave him a look, as if they couldn't believe he had actually asked.

"Biscuit, my dear Doctor, is what you would probably call a roll. Over in America, we have cookies, your biscuit, and biscuits, your rolls. Do try to keep up with the lingo." Katie turned to Ace. "Has he always had thick moments like this?"

"Constantly. Be careful though, he's got a lot more going on in that mind of his then he lets on." Ace and the Doctor shared a look, full of shared memories. They both returned to their dinners.

The meal was eaten in silence. Ace's bike kept giving off a glow, and Katie had a headlamp, so they were good on light.

When all had finished, Ace shifted, looking purposefully at the Doctor.

"So tell me," she said, her voice both threatening and worrisome. "What's happened to Prydon Academy?"

* * *

><p>*Constructive critisisim welcome, praise happily accepted, flames not wanted*<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

The Doctor's face set; not angrily, but it was as if he was keeping all emotion away from his face. His eyes betrayed him though, clearly showing the deep set pain – and possibly guilt—that he felt. Katie shrank backwards, wanting to be as invisible as possible. She might have left, the topic obviously a personal one, but leaving would draw attention to her.

"It's gone."

"You said that before. How can it be 'gone'."

"There was a war. It's gone now."

"A war?" Ace seemed especially puzzled. "It's _Prydon Academy_, Professor. On _Gallifrey_. Planet of the _Time Lords_. People don't just start a war with Time Lords."

"It was the Daleks."

Ace sat back, a bit stunned. "That would explain it. They're the only ones that would try it."

"There were other races caught in the mix. Prydon's gone, Ace." The Doctor swallowed. "And so is Gallifrey."

Ace looked like she'd been punched in the stomach. She blinked hard. "Gallifrey's gone?"

"Yeah."

The Doctor and Ace were silent for a few moments. Katie sat still, hardly even daring to breathe. She didn't know why Ace was affected by the news, but she understood the Doctor's feelings. She knew that Gallifrey was his home planet, probably the place he grew up. Losing a home was one thing; an entire planet…

Katie didn't know how he could go on. Her respect for him instantly grew tenfold.

"How?" Ace said, her voice surprisingly steady for the rest of her appearance.

"It was a time war. The whole thing had to be placed in a time lock, before it affected the universe. No one in, no one out. They were all lost."

"Time lock," Ace said, obviously trying to remember what that was. "That's, ah, when everything inside and everything outside keeps moving in their own way, but they can't touch each other. They're barely aware the other exists."

A ghost of a proud smile came to the Doctor's face, then faded. "Right."

A mix of horror and empathy filled Ace's face. "But those can only be created on the outside of one." Her voice was implicating something, but exactly what, Katie wasn't sure. She sensed it wasn't good.

The Doctor nodded. "Yes." He sounded like he was guilty of something, something that pressed on his mind constantly. Ace sat up straight, still depressed, but pulling herself together. Her tough shell was back.

"I don't completely understand why you would have had to do it. But if you thought it was needed, I have to trust that." She looked dangerously at the Doctor. "When we've found out what's going on, I think you should leave. And I'm not sure if you should come back again. Everything you come near is destroyed, and I won't let that happen here." She stood up and pulled a blanket out of a bag on her motorcycle and pushed a button, turning off the glow. Katie turned off her headlamp, effectively making the stars the only light source.

"We start out early tomorrow." Ace lay down. Katie closed her eyes, and could see that Ace's back was to the Doctor. Because everything was third person while she was in energy view, she saw the Doctor lay down as well. It was obvious he wasn't going to actually sleep.

Katie stayed in her cross-legged position, thinking about the conversation, putting the pieces into her picture of the Doctor's past. She never asked him anything; the past was something she never wanted to speak of, and she gave the same respect to the Doctor. She still watched everything, trying to understand the man she was now traveling with. _Technically, I guess you could say I was living with him._

She shook her head, desperately trying to erase that thought. _So, his planet's gone. No, it's inaccessible. And he made it that way. Why would a whole planet have to be locked away? Then again, if an entire race had access to time travel, then they could wreak havoc on the universe. A time war would indicate at least one other species that could travel through time. Races could be destroyed before they even started. Other planets could be controlled and turned into soldiers. _

For the first time, Katie really understood what the Doctor could do, if he chose. It made her shudder. A name like 'Time Lord' isn't given lightly. Just that title alone would carry power and respect enough that he could demand anything. He had what now seemed to be the only remaining TARDIS, and had knowledge that was really reserved for the elite few. _Time travel is a powerful drug. It is absolute power._ In the dark, she looked over to where the Doctor was.

_He's amazing._

* * *

><p>In the starlight, the Doctor was able to make out Kathryn's shape. On planets with no pollution, stars were much brighter, and far more could be seen with them. She was still awake, her knees clutched to her chest as she watched the stars. He wished for the hundredth time that he knew what she was thinking. Was she imaging the planets those stars really were, and trying to picture a planet in the midst of a time war? Was she contemplating the home and life she had once had?<p>

Or was she realizing who the Doctor was and deciding when to leave?

He glanced over at Ace. They always left at some point. Occasionally he ran into them again, always by accident. But then they would part ways again, and he would be by himself.

That was one of the things he dreaded, yet always expected. The day a companion left. Some fell in love and stayed behind. Some fell in love, and he forced them to stay behind. A few died. Some never came. Some left because they had to. Some left because they had a life outside of him.

The Doctor supposed he had a life outside of his companions. After all, time travel was amazing. But while he was with a companion, a good friend, he had no life outside of them. They became his world, if only for a moment. Everything he did was to impress them, to wow them, to give them memories and experiences they could never forget.

It was true that he worked harder with some than with others. Every now and again, he came across someone that really ingrained themselves in him. Like they became part of him instead of just another memory. Rose had been one. Martha Jones was another. Ace had also been one of those particularly amazing people. Always ready to look out for him, always so brilliant and clever. _She would have made a wonderful Time Lord._

The Doctor shook that thought away. He was the only one left, and that was the end of it. He, alone, carried that honor. And that shame. Shame at what the Time Lord's had become right near the end.

He stuffed that thought back in its box. He refused to remember the Time Lords as he had seen them last and instead recall them as they ought to be remembered.

_How did I get to this topic?_ That's right: the possibility that Kathryn might decide to leave. For some reason, that panicked him more than with most companions. He wasn't in love with Kathryn; she certainly wasn't attached to him in that fashion. But their friendship already seemed to be so much deeper than anything else. It was as though they were meant to travel together, as if they were built for each other. An odd feeling, but a true one. Kathryn had made some sort of connection with him that he doubted anyone would ever be able to duplicate. If she decided to leave….who knew what might happen.

* * *

><p>Daylight had just begun to eat the first stars when Ace woke up, but Katie was still ahead of her. Because Katie constantly absorbed energy, she hardly ever slept, never being tired, and had already pulled out a small metal pot she had somehow fit into her bag. Ace watching curiously as Katie sat cross-legged, eyes closed, facing the pot.<p>

"What is she doing?" Ace asked the Doctor.

"She's attempting to use heat energy to make the water boil."

"How is sitting in front of it supposed to do that?"

"She can see the energy when her eyes are closed. I think she's gathering and condensing heat around the pot. Rather fascinating, actually."

"Will you both hush up?" Katie said, her voice tight. "The sound is interfering with my heat waves. I'm trying to boil the water, not sonic it."

"I would think the ratio of heat to sound, even at this early hour, would be too far in favor of the heat that the two of us talking wouldn't make much difference," Ace said.

"I'm still learning, Cards. I've only been able to do this for two months. Now quiet."

Ace and the Doctor held their peace, and in another minute the pot whistled. Katie smiled, opening her eyes.

"Marvelous!" Pulling a cup out of her bag, she poured some of the liquid into it and took a swallow. Smiling like a cat with a belly full of mouse, she sighed. "I really, really, love coffee."

"Coffee."

Katie looked at the Doctor. "Yeah. Coffee. What else would I make?"

"Possibly hot water."

"I did. I just put coffee grounds in as well." She held out the pot. "You're welcome to it."

The Doctor rubbed his face. "Americans," he muttered.

"Time Lords," Katie said in the same tone. Downing the rest of the coffee in her cup, Katie tossed the rest of the pots contents away.

"There. I can now function and be of use." Putting the pot and cup away, she kept taking. "The ditch goes that way. I suggest we send the bike the same way, and eat granola until we stop for lunch."

"Not much of one to watch the sunrise, are you?" Ace commented.

"We have a planet to save, and I know you'd rather I get out. So, who's driving?"

* * *

><p>*Constructive critisisim welcome, praise happily accepted, flames not wanted*<p> 


	6. Chapter 6

It was ten in the morning, and Katie could feel insanity caused by inactivity creeping up on her again. Yes, riding on the back of a motorcycle was usually lots of fun, but in this case the scenery never changed. It was just gray dirt ahead with green on either side. The ditch kept behaving erratically, and the three had hunted down more empty tunnels than Katie could be bothered to count. Conversation was non-existent, Ace still giving the Doctor a bit of a cold shoulder, and Katie being unwilling to talk to the Doctor with someone she mistrusted slightly so close. To top it all off, Katie's muscles were starting to twitch, longing for movement.

The only thing that had temporarily given Katie a problem to solve was the problem of holding on. The motorcycle was only a two-seater, so Katie was sitting on the back, her feet dangling over the wheels, cutting out any chance of clinging on with her knees. She couldn't rely on balance, because the ground was uneven and Ace made a lot of sharp turns. This left clinging to the Doctor's waist, something the made Katie rather uncomfortable.

She finally solved the problem by holding on to his shoulders.

Katie sighed, resisting the urge to rest her head on the Doctor's back and fall asleep. Instead, she closed her eyes, desperately hoping that there would be something –anything—new in the energy spectrum to see.

Instantly, her view shifted to third person, like a 3-D computer game, with herself as the character. Shifting her view angle farther out, she stared hard at the horizon, looking for sound. It was the only way to tell if there was actually anything, with all the heat and light.

She was rewarded with a flicker of blue in the distance. She tapped the Doctor's arm to get his attention.

"I think we're getting close. Something's making noise up ahead."

He looked at her quizzically. "How can you tell?"

Katie gave him a half-lidded stare. He nodded. "Right. Can you tell how far?"

She shook her head. "No. I haven't worked out all the perception stuff yet. Horizon area. Ish." Katie closed her eyes and looked again. "I think it's moving, but not as fast as we are."

The Doctor turned back to Ace. "Any towns up ahead we should know about?"

Her voice was muffled, but Katie heard the strain in it. "Only the fourth we should have come across since this morning."

"What?"

"Whoever these ditch diggers are, they're wiping out towns like so many tea stains. And I am not having it."

Ace twisted one of the bike's handles, and their speed doubled.

As they neared, the sounds started reaching them. It was, expectedly, the sound of heavy machinery. But it didn't sound quite right. There were….vacuuming sounds mixed in. A vacuum that crushed rocks at the same time. And an whirr that was electric, clunky, and metallic all at once. Like a transporter.

"Kate, you getting anything?"

Katie was about to correct Ace about her name, but decided to leave it for the moment. She lengthened a blink. "Nothing specific, Cards. I think there might be a building or two left standing. No mental energy, so either the people are extremely smart or there are none."

"No mental energy means the people are smart? What kind of reasoning is that?"

"Well, Cards, let's put it this way: if you lose your mind, a.k.a. mental energy, you can't think and you're stupid. If you hold on to it, you can use it."

"Can you tell how fast the diggers are moving?"

"Hard to tell, but I'd say that if you try to stop and watch them, they'll be gone in a cloud of dust before you can really tell what's going on."

Ace didn't respond to the comment, but veered off to the left. Katie saw instantly that Ace was going to head around the diggers, probably to wait somewhere in the forest that still stood up ahead. Katie clicked her teeth once, and then contorted herself in order to set her feet onto the Doctor's thighs. He started to protest, but Katie ignored him.

With her hands already on his shoulders, she had a fairly easy time of standing. Ace felt the weight shift, glanced back, and slowed a bit so Katie could stay balanced as Katie tried to see what was causing so much destruction.

Katie had seen a lot of different things, and had never shown a bit of surprise, fear, or shock, but what she saw this time forced a gasp out of her throat.

Three enormous metal beings could be seen through the dust, like fearsome creatures in a horror film. Two were clearing huge sections of land, acres square, by simply sucking them through the area where hands would usually be. Smoke and steam belched out through pipes on their shoulders.

The third giant stepped up to the cleared section and scanned it with a lens in his forehead. It took a step back into the place where the ditch stopped, and started…doing something. Katie wasn't sure. It seemed as though it simply had its hands set on the top of the ground, but the area of dirt rapidly changed from rich brown to dull gray. The first two produced drilling lasers from their arms, and started digging again.

Katie was frozen. Though the entire process had taken a mere fraction of the time it takes to tell it, that wasn't what horrified her. She had seen worse enemies; she had killed worse. But it was like a part of her she hadn't known existed was telling her to fear the silver machines, and just run.

The robots disappeared from view a second later as Ace drove into the forest. Katie sat down slowly, trying to understand what had frightened – no, terrified—her.

Ace had picked up speed once Katie was sitting again, and was now probably going at her top speed. A few minutes later, Ace parked where she assumed the bike wouldn't be crushed. Katie jumped off, stumbling as she did. This told her exactly how scared she was; even while human, Katie had had an unusually tremendous sense of balance, and now it was even better.

The Doctor must have recognized this, because his tone was concerned when he asked, "Kathryn? What did you see?"

"I'm not sure. They were metal men, perhaps 20 feet tall. Two of them cleared a section of land, and the third did something to it. Extracted something from the soil, I think. Then the first two started digging again."

"There was something else, wasn't there?"

"No. That's all."

"Something's scared you."

Katie smiled lightly. "Exactly."

The Doctor looked at her for a few moments. "You said they took something out of the dirt?"

"Must have. The soil went from brown to gray."

The Doctor turned to Ace. "You said this was an agricultural planet."

"Yeah. Everything flourishes around here."

"But why?" The Doctor got that look that meant he was trying to make the puzzle pieces fit, but wasn't sure of the picture. He started walking quickly back and forth, pausing to grab another fistful of dirt, smelling it and tasting it. "Can't be," he muttered. He pulled out his screwdriver and scanned the dirt.

"Gonna tell us what you found?" Ace asked, her tone telling Katie that the Doctor had always been this way.

"Ronodim."

"You can't be serious."

"Very."

Katie sighed. "Anyone going to clue in the newbie?"

"Ronodim is a mineral," the Doctor said, his voice shifting into that of a teacher, "that human's don't discover until 3026, but in general it's an explosive."

"Gunpowder of the galaxies?"

"More like nuclear bomb of the nebulas. You don't need much of this to make an atom bomb resemble a firework. Whoever sent the mining robots must be trying to collect it."

"What I don't see," Ace said, "is how it would have done anything for the plants."

"Nitrogen. Ronodim is made mostly of nitrogen. It would have been a huge benefit for the plants."

"And the occasional deep pits in the ditch?"

"A particularly rich vein, with large deposits here and there."

"Alright," Katie mused, "if mining bots have been sent to get this stuff, then they probably plan to use it as a bomb rather than fertilizer. How do we stop them?"

"Were there any marks that might identify them?" Ace asked.

Katie closed her eyes, though not all the way, trying to recall the picture. "I want to say no, but there was some kind of embossing on their arms. Sorta looked like a logo."

"Corporate based. Could you tell what the insignia was?" the Doctor said.

Katie clicked her teeth and tilted her head, thinking hard. "It was a little loopy…swirls maybe? Vine kind of swirls. Plain, leafless vines. Not very deep. Almost like it was a cool accident that someone on the manufacturing line decided to keep."

The Doctor's brow furrowed, puzzled again. "Sounds like the Krize. But what would they be doing harvesting explosives?"

"The Krize?" Katie asked, her tone slightly worried. "You told me once they were at war with the Rahki."

"They are. Have been for millennia."

"Not good news if they spot me then, is it?"

"No. Then again..."

Ace sighed, irritated that Katie knew something she didn't. "Who are the Krize, who are the Rahki, and why are they fighting?"

"Rahki are a bunch of lunatic clone-making body swappers that record lives while not changing history," Katie spat out, her disdain showing. "I have no clue who the Krize are."

Ace and Katie turned to the Doctor. His instructors voice came back. "The Krize are a highly advanced civilization. Keep to themselves, for the most part. The epitome of non-interference. The only exception to their rule is the Rahki. The Krize have a major problem with their, as Kathryn so kindly put it, 'lunatic clone making body swapping.'"

"Why would the Krize have a thing against Kate?"

"My name's not Kate, it's Katie."

"Why do they have a problem with you?"

"I'm one of the results of the Rahki's lunatic clone making. I broke out of the system when I found the Doctor," Katie said, giving an extremely condensed version of her backstory. "Why wouldn't it be bad if they saw me?"

"If they think the Rahki have seen them, they might leave."

"Or they might eat me. I think they get their fuel by incinerating the stuff they destroy."

Ace's face paled and hardened. "So all those people…"

"Burned," the Doctor said, his face set.

Katie turned to Ace, rather than the Doctor. She reached into her bag and pulled out a small silver tube, which she tossed in the air. "Well then," she said, catching it. "Let's go take down a robot."

* * *

><p>*Constructive critisisim welcome, praise happily accepted, flames not wanted*<p> 


	7. Chapter 7

"What do you plan to do with that thing again?" Ace hissed at Katie.

"Look, it's got a charge. Easiest way to do anything to a robot is give it the short circuit."

"I don't think it's got enough charge; those things are enormous!"

"Could you both be quiet?" the Doctor said, studying the metal giants through binoculars, trying to think of something.

Katie and Ace exchanged looks. "How tight?" Katie asked. The Doctor looked quizzically at her, but Katie wasn't paying him any attention.

"Pretty tight," Ace said, somehow understanding the question.

"Anticipation of shots?"

"Well-honed."

"Accuracy?"

"Same."

Katie reached into her bag and produced a large gun. The Doctor was starting to wonder how she could fit so much in that bag. Katie held the gun proudly.

"Acid tip, cable seventy five."

"Zapper?"

"Button on the end," Katie said, handing her the silver tube. Ace checked it and stuck the tube in an easy-to-reach spot on her bike, then got on it herself. "We'll be behind."

"Check." Ace put her helmet on. The Doctor started to protest, but Ace took off.

"Ace! Ace what the hell are you doing!" he called after her. Katie held up a hand to stop him.

"Chill Prof. She knows what she's up to." Katie started jogging down the hill after her. She beckoned to the Doctor. "Come on! We'll need you for the surgery."

* * *

><p>The Doctor and Katie arrived at the bottom of the hill just in time to witness the entire scene. Ace was driving at top speed, so fast they could hardly see her. She was weaving in and out of the legs of one of the first two robots. They hardly even seemed to notice her, simply continuing their job of mining. A moment later, something small and bright flashed, landing solidly in the right leg of the giant. Ace began going around the legs rather than in between them, making the circle tight. In a matter of seconds, the chosen beast fell while trying to step forward. Ace jammed the silver tube Katie had given her into the metal man's neck joint and pressed the button.<p>

"That's our cue!" Katie called out as she drew yet another fairly large weapon, running towards Ace. The Doctor came dashing behind, finally understanding what Katie and Ace had set up. Ace had used a harpoon of some form attached to a cable to trip up one of the monsters and used electrocution to disable it. It was now up to him to pry the chest open somehow to see how it worked. From there they could make another plan. It was a brilliant scheme.

For five seconds.

The creature Ace had forced down gave a shudder, and sat back up again. Using a circular saw blade deployed from its arm, it cut the cable, getting back on its own two feet. The other two giants hadn't noticed a thing, or weren't reacting. The target, however, seemed rather upset to have been forced to the ground. It started firing from its mining laser at Ace, who rolled smartly out of the way. Katie took a shot at the robot with her energy cannon.

"Hey, bongo! Why don't you try eating someone you already don't like?"

The robot turned to face the new threat. It took a split second to scan Katie and the Doctor when a red light started flashing from its single eye. A metallic voice grated out:

"RAHKI JAHRA EXPERIMENT E.F.A. DETECTED IN VICINITY OF SUBJECT L.T.L. SEPARATE AND RETRIVE."

Katie didn't even have time to blink before four small canisters flew through the air, landing on either the chest or head of the creature. They blew up nearly simultaneously, destroying most of the machine.

"Stop staring and move it!" Ace yelled from her position. Katie and the Doctor booked it to where Ace and the bike were, making a hasty retreat as the other two 'bots examined the remains of their companion.

* * *

><p>After putting distance between themselves and the mining machines, the trio paused to figure out what had exactly happened.<p>

"What was the charge on your energy rod?"

"83,000 giga-watts."

The Doctor gave Katie a look. "Have you been going through my storage spaces again?"

"Yes. Ace, when you were on level with it, could you see any of the inner workings?"

"There was no light to see anything."

"Means were working nearly from scratch. What kind of power source wouldn't be affected by a power surge, but would still generate enough power for the mining?"

"Either it has one heck of a surge protector, or it has several ways of powering."

Katie clicked her teeth together. "I'm leaning towards surge protector. The Krize sound like the type to have something like that."

The Doctor finally found his chance to break in. As much as Katie and Ace disliked each other, they worked well together. "No, the Krize's greatest rule is non-interference. They keep it in mind at all times, even down to the air pollution when they absolutely have to go somewhere."

Ace furrowed her brow. "Then why have the mining robots give off smoke? Why send them here at all?"

"Now that last one is something I don't know, and we aren't likely to get anything out of the robots about it either. The smoke and steam might be explainable though."

"I know I'll regret this in about two seconds," Katie said, "but please, explain."

"In a word, steam."

Katie looked at Ace. "Told you I'd regret it."

The Doctor continued as though she had said nothing. "Steam would provide the greatest balance between non-interference if a native found and disassembled the machine. If pulled apart, the only thing they could possibly gain is a boiler. They probably have some kind of separate supply running their digging lasers and so forth, but that would simply look like an odd box."

Katie held up a hand. "Rewind a few moments. They're eating trees, bushes, grass, animals and people, and then burning them, in order to mine an explosive mineral? Now I am mad."

"Alright, so now we know how they work. How do we stop them?" Ace asked. Katie shrugged.

"I know you won't like this one Doctor, but Ace, couldn't you just blow the others to bits like the last one?"

"I only have two left, and there was plenty of the last one left. I don't think it's going to cut it."

The Doctor stared at her. "Say that again."

"I don't think it's going to cut it."

A grin spread across the Doctor's face. "Oh, Ace you're brilliant! We don't need to pull the whole thing apart—"

Katie interrupted, as was her habit. "We just have to cut of the head, or in our case—"

Ace finished the sentence. "Blow it off with one to the neck."

Katie took the miniature harpoon gun off of Ace's bike and attached a new harpoon. She twirled it gunslinger fashion. "So, who's ready for round two?"

* * *

><p>"This didn't end well the last time," the Doctor commented to the two girls. The trio was watching the remaining robots, who were working steadily, though their rate was down, owing to the absence of the first one.<p>

"Last time we didn't know who we were up against," Ace said.

"We knew the who, just not the what. Now we have a better idea of how to get rid of them," Katie added.

"Well, almost."

Ace and Katie froze. "Almost?"

"You've forgotten about the Ronodim."

"Would it be that highly explosive in an impure state?" Ace asked.

The Doctor tilted his head, tugging on an earlobe. "Well, depends on how impure it is. But with the growth rate around here and the way it tasted, I'm going to say it's about as pure as you can make it."

"Oh, bugger."

"Don't swear," Ace and the Doctor admonished Katie.

"Oh, hush." Katie bit her top lip, thinking hard. "Wouldn't something that dangerous be stored in something protective?"

"I use nitroglycerine, Kate, not AN/FO. Anything protecting the Ronodim would be burnt to a crisp, and set it off at the same time. We'd be turned into a crater along with the rest of the surrounding area."

Katie turned to the Doctor. "Is there any way to get rid of Ronodim without blowing up the trash man?"

The Doctor rubbed his jaw. "If you got it hot enough fast enough, it could vaporize. It would be pretty harmless then."

"Hot as in…"  
>"Oh, possibly three Nitro-11 canisters at once."<p>

Katie clicked her teeth and let her shoulders droop. "Well, nothing to be done. We can at least destroy the other digger. That would stop the collection 'bot from being able to gather more."

Ace nodded. "Right then. Kate, hop on the back. It'll be easier for you to take aim with your harpooning gun."

"Check on that," Katie said, pulling out the gun. The Doctor looked quizzically at her bag.

"Did you get that from the TARDIS?"

Katie looked down. "What, the bag? Yah. Has a great mail-bag shape to it, has no end to the amount of space, and has some kind of awesome circle design all over it."

The Doctor looked like he was going to say something, then stopped and nodded. "Alright. I was just wondering."

Katie raised an eyebrow at him and turned back to Ace. "We going?"

"Get on."

The Doctor had voted to follow them behind previously, so Ace and Katie drove off to bring down the second machine. At the time it had been because he felt they were simply a little too happy destroying things that weren't living. Now there was another reason.

The bag Katie had was Galifreyian. The faded circles were writing, his name to be specific. It was his old schoolbag. The Doctor figured he ought to be bothered. Somehow, he wasn't. It just seemed right she should have it.

* * *

><p>*Constructive critisisim welcome, praise happily accepted, flames not wanted*<p> 


	8. Chapter 8

Katie was now in the second seat of the motorcycle, which would make her job so much easier. It was rather simple, actually. Working together, Ace and she would bring down the second digging 'bot much like the first one. Once it crashed, Katie would throw the Nitro-11 canister into its neck joint, effectively blowing off its head. If it was like any other robot Katie had come across, the main CPU would be there. That would leave just the walking bomb to deal with.

"Going into a weave, take the shot when you're clear."

"Roger that."

Ace made a sharp turn, weaving in and out of the robots legs, trying to give Katie a good shot while making the bike unhittable. Katie planted her feet and gripped the bike between her legs as she stood, her eyes closed. She focused on an ankle joint and lifted the gun. At the last second, she opened her eyes, sighted in a fraction of a second, and fired.

It was a perfect hit. The harpoon went whizzing through the air, landing solidly, creating a stupendous grip. Ace began circling, wrapping the cable around and around. Katie sat down and pulled out the canister of Nitro-11, pre-loaded into a crossbow (one she had NOT told the Doctor about). She didn't want to miss.

A creaking above her made Katie look up. She stood again, eyes locked on the machines neck. Ace drove out in front of it and stopped. Katie took a moment to check the trajectory, and fired.

Another perfect hit. The nitroglycerine made contact and blew off the head of the beast. It wouldn't rise again.

Ace turned the bike back towards where the Doctor was waiting. Katie stuffed the crossbow back into her bag and took the energy cannon from where she had it on her back. There was one more 'bot still left, and she figured the only way to get rid of it was blow the head off.

Unfortunately, the collector robot had the same idea. Swiveling its head around, it shot a laser at Katie from its eye. It hit just behind the back tire instead, simultaneously leaving a good sized crater. Ace and Katie were thrown, both rolling to a stop. Katie lost her grip on the energy cannon and it flew off somewhere. The metal beast shot at it and turned it into a pile of dust.

"Damn bastard blew up my bike!" Katie heard Ace shriek. Katie looked over towards her and saw she was scrabbling up the sides of the crater, looking like she was going to try to tear apart the machine with her bare hands.

"Now Cards, you know you shouldn't swear," Katie admonished, unable to pass up a line, and hoping the distraction would keep Ace from doing something really stupid.

Ace's eyes shot dagger at Katie, and she looked ready to say something, but then all the blood drained from her face as she looked past Katie over the crater rim. "Doctor!"

Katie was up next to her in a flash, and was equally horrified. The Doctor was running down the hill, doing what he did best and coming to help. But the robot had also seen him, and was now taking aim.

Ace and Katie both drew guns and fired at the eye. It must have been made of glass or crystal, because the eye shattered, rendering the laser useless. The force was great enough that a small shard flew through the air, landing deep in the Doctor's shoulder. He tumbled down the side of the crater as the robot stumbled backwards, blinded.

Ace skid down as Katie studied the robot. It was bent over, giving her a perfect shot. Too bad they only had one Nitro-11 canister left.

"Look at my coat! Janis Joplin gave me this coat."

"Shut up Professor. I lost my bike to that Ronodim sucker. Give me your sonic so I can take this out."

_Sonic. Robot. Nitro-11. Ronodim._  
>Katie slid down the side. She reached into Ace's bag and pulled out the last canister of nitroglycerine, snatching the sonic from her hand.<p>

"This thing telepathic?" she asked, holding it up.

"Yes—"

"Steam powered things have gears?"

"Yes—"

Katie opened the Doctor's coat, ignoring his cries of pain, and pulled out a pink box. After pulling out her crossbow and throwing down her bag, she whirled around ran back up the side of the crater without a backward glance. She could hear the Doctor yelling after her.

"Kathryn! Kathryn what are you doing!"

Ace ran up the crater side as the Doctor jerked the crystal shard out of his shoulder. Ace watched as Katie ran forward and stopped abruptly about 300 yards from the beast, which was just starting to straighten. A flash of something blue was visible on its inside before it stood completely straight.

Then Katie did one of the oddest things Ace had ever seen someone do. Katie shook the Nitro-11 canister up like a can of soda pop, loaded it into her crossbow, soniced the whole thing, and fired. The canister hit the thing's chest right in the center, blowing on contact.

Ace ducked in reaction to the anticipated Ronodim explosion. Then she noticed she wasn't dead. The Doctor, who had managed to crawl up beside her, was staring outwards at Katie.

"I think that nutter you brought with you has either just killed us or saved us." Ace said, respect tingeing her voice. She looked back over the edge. Katie had tossed her crossbow aside and was now dumping the contents of the pink box into her hand. Some of the small, pink circles fell on the ground, but Katie ignored that, stuffing what she had in her hand in her mouth. Then she froze, staring at where the metal man had fallen from the explosion.

"What are those?" Ace asked the Doctor. He shook his head in disbelief.

"It's bubblegum."

"What!"

"No no, it's alright," the Doctor admonished her gently, his face getting an excited look. "Oh, she's brilliant. If this works, I'm taking her to the World's Fair. Maybe the 500th anniversary."

"Why? What's she doing?"

"Watch."

The robot gave a shudder before righting itself. Ace could see the entire chest plate had been destroyed, the gears that ran the boiler now visible. Katie stayed where she was, sonic clenched in one hand, nothing in the other. The robot must have had other sensors, because it faced Katie and started striding towards her. It would be close enough to step on her in a few moments. Katie still didn't move.

"Come on Kathryn," the Doctor muttered. "What are you waiting for?"

As though she had heard him, Katie pulled her head back and jerked it forward. A pink blob flew from her mouth, landing right in the center of the robot's chest.

The gum lodged in one of the rapidly spinning gears. Suddenly, it and the adjoining 6 stopped. The robot jerked a few times, gave a final shudder, locked, and fell straight forward. Its head landed next to Katie's foot. She glanced down at it, pointed the screwdriver and pressed the button. A few sparks flew out from the neck joint.

Katie looked at the beast, then to the screwdriver. She tossed the screwdriver in the air, caught it, and stuck it in her back pocket.

She turned around calmly and walked sedately back to where Ace and the Doctor were. She pointed past them to the other side of the crater.

"Bike's over there."

* * *

><p>It took the three adventurers another day and a half to finally get back to their starting point. It would have taken less time, but they had had to patch up the Doctor and promise to fix his coat, extract the Ronodim holding container from the robots back, and carefully bury the Ronodim so that it would eventually dissolve back into the soil.<p>

It was while they were pulling out the box of Ronodim that Ace and the Doctor found out just how Katie had managed to throw nitroglycerine at the robot and not set off the Ronodim. The entire box was suspended in a field of artificial anti-gravity, or, as the Doctor had put it, "the best padding the universe." Of course, when Katie was asked how she knew, she just said she hadn't. She'd just fired and hoped for the best.

Katie was lost in thought when Ace made the time jump. Then they were back where they had first met Ace; the twisted scraps of metal from the destroyed spacecraft were still there.

"End of the line. Ride. Adventure. However you want to call it."

The Doctor's smile was sad in response to Ace's words. He and Katie got off the bike and turned toAce.

Katie looked at the Doctor out of the corner of her eye. He was standing with his center of gravity back slightly, as though bracing for an impact. His hands were in his pockets, and he had a coaxing look in his eye. She remembered that stance. He had looked exactly like that when he asked her to travel with him.

"You could come with us."

Ace smiled, like she had expected the offer. "Tempting. Oh, so very, very tempting. But I have a life now. And it's not just protecting here. I have a…business of sorts. A charity, actually."

"We'll have to look it up sometime and make a donation," the Doctor said, the cheer in his voice slightly forced. "What's it called?"

Ace's smile became self-depreciating. "A Charitable Earth."

"Not bad. Makes it easy to remember."

"Yep."

Noticing the awkward lull that was about to enter the conversation, Katie spoke up. "Hey, Cards, anyway I can convince you to give me the recipe for Nitro-11?"

"Well sure—"

"NO."

Katie turned to the Doctor, putting a bit of a pleading in her expression. "Why not?"

"No. End of discussion. You've found enough guns and things."

"But Nitro-11 is so _useful_."

Seeing the Doctor's expression at that, Katie dropped the subject. Ace sat back on her bike, putting a foot on the old-fashioned starter she had.

"Time for me to be off. I've got a lot of clean-up to do."

The Doctor nodded, a smile still on his face, but this one regretful. He seemed like he would say something, but Katie wasn't sure. He stepped forward and gave Ace a hug, one which she returned. They let go after a few moments and the Doctor started walking. Katie turned to follow.

"Hey, Kate, hold a moment."

Katie turned back to Ace. "Yah?"

"Keep him safe."

Katie nodded. "Will do. And get a crossbow for yourself. Helps with targeting."

"Will do." Ace kicked the starter, the engine purring into life. "Take care of yourself Katie. You're going on the trip of your life. Make it all count."

Katie gave a two-fingered salute, raising her voice to be heard over the engine. "Ace trumps all. Enjoy humanity. It's a precious gift."

Ace nodded, and Katie watched as she drove off into her pillar of air.

* * *

><p>"Took you awhile."<p>

Katie kept walking past the Doctor. "Just talking."

"Kathryn."

Katie turned around. The Doctor had a more serious look on his face than she usually saw. "How did you know?"

Katie seemed to shrink into herself. She knew exactly what he meant. Katie swallowed before answering. "I don't know. I just did. It's like a memory I know I never had."

"When did they start?"

Katie was silent for a few moments. "The first robot we faced down. That was when they filtered in the first time, but in the form of conjectures, like I was taking the stuff I had seen and putting it to good use. Then at the second digging robot, I knew precisely where the weakest spot on its legs were, the best place to put the harpoon and cable. And for the third one…" Katie took a deep breath before continuing, her voice just a bit shaky. "Doctor, I knew that the Ronodim wouldn't explode. I knew that it was in an anti-gravity field. I knew that if I fired one of the canisters at the very center of its chest, only the chest plate would come off. I've never even seen those things before, never even heard of them, but _I knew_."

Katie rubbed one of her arms as if cold. "It's as if someone is invading my brain, putting in facts and things. It makes me feel…violated."

The Doctor looked at her with compassion. "It's the locked center of your mind. The Rahki locked away all the things other Jahra know from the moment they're created. Half of your brain isn't accessible by your conscious mind, but your subconscious can go in and out at will."

"If my conscious mind doesn't see it, how can I use that knowledge?"

"Sometimes the conscious need is great enough to make the subconscious work for it."

"It doesn't make sense."

The Doctor sighed. "You're right. It doesn't. The Rahki force the knowledge of their race on any Jahra clone they may make. But you seem to have been made to not know."

Katie shook her head in an irritated fashion. "Then why give me those thoughts at all? It isn't just now; it happens all the time."

"This happened before?"

Katie nodded. "It's just never been this much before. Always I get these little sparks of thought, small facts about things anyone might get by watching closely. But I barely need to glance at something for it to make sense. Whenever I'm in front of anything that's a computer, I know exactly how to make it do whatever I want, but forget how I did it moments later. I've been learning languages at a ridiculous speed, just by reading a single language book. I see the words and know precisely how they're pronounced."

Katie had been looking away until this point, but now locked eyes with the Doctor. He could see the underlying layer of fear in her face. "But whenever I look at you, there's absolutely nothing. At all. No brain sparks, no prior knowledge. Just this weird feeling that I have to stay with you, protect you. Why would I know everything about everything, but nothing about someone like you?"

The Doctor had no good response. Katie had been slowly moving towards him throughout the conversation, and now hugged him. She held him like a small child might hug an older brother or father. The Doctor returned the hug, hoping it would make her feel safe.

"Doctor, it bothers me."

_Terrifies her is more like it. That's how I would feel if something like that was in my brain._ The Doctor only thought this, knowing to give the thought voice would be a bad idea.

They stood that way for a few more moments. Then Katie said, "I want my bag back."

The Doctor pulled away and gave her an incredulous look. "Your bag? You stole it from me."

"We talked about this. I take good care of the stuff you never touch. Give."

He held out his hand. "Sonic."

"Didn't I earn it? I took down an explosive robot with bubblegum!"

"And a crossbow."

For a nanosecond, Katie looked just like a teenager that's been told to give back money they took from their parent's wallet. Then she sighed and pulled the screwdriver out of her pocket, heavily placing it in the Doctor's hand. In return, he took off her bag, which he had been carrying, and handed it to her. She immediately looked inside, then shot him a look.

"You took out half my stuff!"

"Only the weapons."

"It took me weeks to make those things."

"Don't make them again."

Katie and the Doctor stared at each other. Once again, the Doctor was intrigued, yet slightly horrified, at the way Katie's moods shifted so quickly. What also worried him was her obsession with weapons.

Katie nodded a quick assent. "Fine. But I'm keeping my dagger with me. And lock pick. And a few elements and seasonings."

"Seasonings?"

Her smile was enigmatic. "Yep. Now, come on. TARDIS is still a 45 minute walk, maybe a 20 minute run, and I want to see where we're going next."

Katie bounded away. The Doctor paused for a moment and then joined her. Running with a friend, and not away from something. Life was good.

* * *

><p>*There. Finished. As usual, unanswered questions, including one that was in just the last few lines. It's not said, but it's certainly there. You'll all just have to wait. I'll put up more stories as fast as possible, but there will be no set sheduale. My next one is currently in the works, the title being "Teacher Doctor Scientist." What kind of things do you think should be in Kaite's bag now that the DOctor won't let her carry weapons? Send me a PM with your suggestion! The better ones will make it into my next few episodes. No promises your idea will make it in, but if the idea is good, I'll make it work.*<p> 


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